The Walnut Valley Unified School District is the top-performing district in the San Gabriel Valley area, according to newly released state test scores.

About 76 percent of Walnut Valley students met state standards in English, and 74 percent met state standards in math.

Superintendent Bob Taylor said the news gave him “a lot of pride.” He credited the high scores to “great leadership,” adding: “We have the best teachers anywhere.”

Taylor said that while the high scores are cause for celebration, the district tries to maintain “the bigger focus that we have on educating the whole child.”

He pointed to a new initiative to teach dance to every third-grader, as well as the district’s music and coding programs.

“When we measure how we’re doing in educating our kids, there’s a lot more than test scores,” Taylor said. “But the test scores validate the hard work from our teachers.”

More broadly, Southern California students showed modest improvements or held steady in standardized tests scores in the third year of state math and English tests, but scores remained more or less flat statewide, according to data released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.

Statewide, 48.56 percent of all students met or exceeded English standards on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, while 37.56 percent did the same in math.

In previous years, the department of education released test scores rounded to the nearest whole number. This year, for the first time, scores were precise to two decimal points.

In Southern California, only Orange County students beat statewide averages.

In Los Angeles County, most districts performed slightly below the state average. About 47 percent of L.A. County students met state standards in English, compared to 49 percent throughout the state. In math, about 36 percent of county students met state standards, compared to 38 percent throughout the state.

Roughly 3.2 million students took the online tests, which stress critical thinking, problem-solving and preparing students for the real world.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said he was happy that California students held onto last year’s progress.

“I’m pleased we retained our gains, but we have much more work to do,” Torlakson said in a press release. “We need to work diligently to narrow achievement gaps and make sure all students continue to make progress. It’s important to remember that these tests are far more rigorous and realistic than the previous paper and pencil tests. We are asking more of our students, but for a good reason — so they are better prepared for the world of college and careers.”

Some students are struggling more than others.

In 2017, 37.28 percent of Hispanic or Latino students and 31.23 percent of blacks met or exceeded English standards, compared with 64.29 percent of white students.

For districts with a higher share of disadvantaged students, year-to-year growth in scores may be a better barometer for student performance.

The Bonita Unified School District, which serves San Dimas, had by far the highest growth in both English and math scores. About 68 percent of Bonita students met state standards, up by 5 points from 2016. In math, about 54 percent of students met state standards, up by 6 points from last year.

Bonita Superintendent Christy Goennier said she the news was “exciting,” but she wasn’t surprised at the jump.

“We’ve been very focused on the standards and focused on making sure we’re keeping up with 21st century learning,” she said. “We’ve been very deliberate with what we’ve been doing, so it’s not a surprise.”

She said the key to the district’s growth has been focusing on each individual student, rather than an entire classroom or grade.

“I think one of the things we’ve been focused on is personalized learning — really looking at individual students,” Goennier said. “Instead of teaching to the middle of the road, we’re saying, ‘What do individual students need?’ and reaching out toward that.”

Glossary

The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress measures how many students performed at each of four levels.

Hayley Munguia covers Long Beach City Hall for the Southern California News Group. She previously worked as a data reporter for FiveThirtyEight and has written for The Week, the Jerusalem Post and the Austin American-Statesman, among other publications. She's originally from Austin, graduated from NYU and will pet a dog any chance she gets.

Beau Yarbrough wrote his first newspaper article taking on an authority figure (his middle school principal) when he was in 7th grade. He’s been a professional journalist since 1992, working in Virginia, Egypt and California. In that time, he’s covered community news, features, politics, local government, education, the comic book industry and more. He’s covered the war in Bosnia, interviewed presidential candidates, written theatrical reviews, attended a seance, ridden in a blimp and interviewed both Batman and Wonder Woman (Adam West and Lynda Carter). He also cooks a mean pot of chili.